Urban Virtues and Innovative City: Edmonton, Canada PDF

Article Urban Studies 2019, Vol. 56(4) 705–721 Ó Urban Studies Journal Limite...

Article Urban Studies 2019, Vol. 56(4) 705–721 Ó Urban Studies Journal Limited 2017 Urban virtues and the innovative Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions city: An experiment in placing DOI: 10.1177/0042098017719191 journals.sagepub.com/home/usj innovation in Edmonton, Canada Kevin Edson Jones University of Alberta, Canada Michael Granzow University of Alberta, Canada Rob Shields University of Alberta, Canada Abstract In the highly competitive landscape of global cities and entrepreneurial urbanism, the develop- ment goals of cities are increasingly framed through discourses of ‘innovation’. In this paper we critically examine this relationship through a case study exploring the attempt to build a nano- technology sector in Edmonton, Alberta. Adopting a collaborative research methodology involv- ing citizen engagement and urban touring, we explore participant representations of Edmonton as an ‘innovative city’. The conversations we had with participants follow some common themes within an emerging literature on innovation geographies, for instance as related to network colla- borations and quality of life. However, participants furthermore articulated innovation pathways which were more closely linked to local identities and values within the city, including negative place narratives. We argue that paying attention to these ‘virtues of place’ can assist cities to counteract trends towards the homogenisation of urban innovation strategy, and affix the ‘innova- tive city’ to more socially robust articulations of the future prosperity and the possibility of place. Keywords community engagement, Edmonton, innovation, negative place narratives, urban touring ᪈㾱 ൘‫⨳ޘ‬෾ᐲ઼Աъᇦ෾ᐲѫѹⲴ儈ㄎҹṬተѝˈ෾ᐲⲴਁኅⴞḷᰕ⳺⭡“ࡋᯠ”䈍䈝ṶᇊDŽ൘ᵜ ᮷ѝˈᡁԜ䙊䗷ሩ䱯ቄ՟ຄⴱࣚ࣋ᶴᔪ㓣㊣、ᢰӗъᡰ‫Ⲵڊ‬Ṹֻ⹄ウˈ᧒䇘Ҷ䘉а‫ޣ‬㌫DŽᡁԜ 䟷⭘⎹৺‫≁ޜ‬৲о઼෾ᐲ⑨㿸Ⲵਸ֌ᔿ⹄ウᯩ⌅ˈ᧒䇘Ҷਇ䇯㘵ྲօሶෳᗧ㫉亯᧿㔈Ѫ“ࡋᯠ ѻ෾”DŽᡁԜоਇ䇯㘵Ⲵ䈸䈍‫➗׍‬ᯠ‫ࡋⲴޤ‬ᯠൠ⨶ᆖ⹄ウ᮷⥞ѝⲴаӋᑨ㿱ѫ仈ˈֻྲо㖁㔌 ॿ֌઼⭏⍫䍘䟿⴨‫Ⲵޣ‬ѫ仈DŽնᱟˈਇ䇯㘵䘋а↕䚃ࠪҶо෾ᐲѝⲴൠᯩ䓛ԭ઼ԧ٬ᴤ㍗ᇶ⴨ 䘎Ⲵࡋᯠ䐟ᖴˈवᤜ⎸ᶱൠᯩਉһDŽᡁԜᤷࠪˈ‫⌘ޣ‬䘉Ӌ“ൠᯩᗧᙗ”㜭ᴹࣙҾ෾ᐲᣥࡦ෾ᐲࡋ ᯠᡈ⮕Ⲵ਼䍘ॆ䎻࣯ˈᒦሶ“ࡋᯠѻ෾”䭊ᇊ൘⽮Պቲ䶒ᴤっപⲴᵚᶕ㑱㦓઼ൠᯩਟ㜭ᙗ㺘䗮кDŽ ‫ޣ‬䭞䇽 ⽮४৲оǃෳᗧ㫉亯ǃࡋᯠǃ⎸ᶱൠᯩਉһǃ෾ᐲ⑨㿸 Received November 2015; accepted June 2017 706 Urban Studies 56(4) Introduction provided value in fostering science and pro- fessional development. However, these devel- ‘Innovation’ is increasingly pervasive in a opments remain ambiguous in their great deal of talk about cities and the relationships to place. Investments have cre- policies which guide their development. ated a sense of hope about the development Based on a local case in Edmonton, Canada, of Edmonton as a core node in the knowl- we explore opportunities for thinking about edge economy but with no clear articulation the geography of innovation and articulate of ‘why Edmonton?’, or ‘to what purpose?’, a citizen-engaged and place-based approach or ‘how the benefits of being an innovation to cities and their political-economic possi- destination will stick to place?’ bility. We promote thinking about innova- Employing a public research model blend- tive cities that is both spatially and socially ing citizen engagement and participatory robust. This provides an alternative to research, we address the relationship between trends where innovation demands the con- nanotechnology and Edmonton’s future. We formity of urban policy to transcendent explore how place-based thinking can support models of thinking and acting (Jones et al., the embedding of innovation within a city; to 2015). root it within the planning outlook of local This project focuses on an attempt to cre- communities, to integrate science and technol- ate a diversified knowledge economy around ogy policy with municipal planning and devel- investments in nanotechnology in Edmon- opment strategies, and to foster the growth of ton. Already a northern capital city serving the social networks necessary for supporting as a gateway and service centre for a robust strategies into the future. Disassem- resource economy, a nascent nanotechnology bling the complex interlinkages between inno- industry was anticipated to attract a new vation, development and place we seek class of high-tech workers and entrepreneurs, pathways for uncovering the ‘virtues’ of a spe- and to contribute to making Edmonton a cific place and exploring how innovation can ‘world-class’ city. At the centre of these be opened-up to support resilient community efforts was the establishment of the National futures. Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) at the University of Alberta in 2001. Supported by Canada’s National Research Council The innovative city (NRC), NINT was imagined as a foundation to anchor a regional economic cluster in the The ascendancy of the urban as a scale of city and increase Canada’s competitive edge development, prosperity and transformation in global markets.1 Locally, this strategy was (Power et al., 2010; Sassen, 2002; Scott, bolstered by further investments in higher 2001; Taylor, 2004) has been paralleled by a education and technical training as well as growing interest in the geography of innova- the creation of a wide range of support stra- tion, aimed at understanding why knowl- tegies. Provincial and municipal governments edge creation and development flourish in bolstered start-up initiatives, business and some places and not others. Below, we offer manufacturing development, and an entre- a brief overview of evolving geographic per- preneurial culture. These initiatives have spectives on innovation with the intention of Corresponding author: Kevin Edson Jones, University of Alberta, City-Region Studies Centre, Faculty of Extension, 2-184, 10230 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, AB, T5J 4P6, Canada. Email: [email protected] Jones et al. 707 demarcating a conceptual space for experi- motivated thinking about the ‘situatedness’ menting with citizen-centred approaches. of innovation. This has resulted in new poli- We contrast approaches which have con- cies orientated towards city-regional speciali- ceived the city thinly as either simply the sation in innovation development (Wolfe, locale of innovation, or as an abstract range 2014). of geographic characteristics to which cities Recently a body of more geographically may ascribe, with more recent empirical oriented approaches have emerged, drawing work emphasising a thicker view of the city together diverse research on clustering, which prefaces the integrated, dynamic and urban design and city branding. As Asheim multi-scalar aspects of innovation. and Gertler (2006: 292) have argued, there is Historically, innovation policies have a growing recognition that ‘geography is focused on the direct translation of national fundamental, not incidental, to the innova- innovation strategies down to the local level, tion process itself’. and have been strongly influential in direct- Innovation is not an outcome of linear ing investment and activity at the urban paths of knowledge generation and entrepre- scale. These strategies have centred on the neurship; rather, it is shaped through socio- ability of institutions, such as universities technical relations connecting people and and national research facilities, to convert places spatially. The emphasis is shifted from investments in science and technology into a focus on a narrow range of elite actors new products and market sectors. There has (e.g. scientists and entrepreneurs) towards been a tendency, for instance, to chase after dynamic places and the building of dense, the benefits of frontier technologies. Still creative and inclusive relationships (Wolfe today Canadian cities fight over the title of and Bramwell, 2008). The ability of a city, or ‘Silicon Valley North’, trying to emulate region, to diversify and sustain economies Palo Alto and capitalise on the growth and through innovation is related to the develop- consumer interest in microelectronics ment of durable, long-term collaborative (Mallett, 2004). The life industries have been partnerships and governance models, includ- fashionable throughout much of this millen- ing but not exclusive to the relationship nium, and more recently emerging nanos- between research institutions and the private ciences have taken their place in urban sector (Wolfe, 2015). As Aula and Harmaa- innovation strategies. Cities continue to seek korpi (2008: 525) state, the challenge is to and capture the benefits of these sectors increase the capacity of ‘the many actors to through the provision of front-end supports interact, learn collectively and build a trust- for science and engineering, including fund- worthy and creative atmosphere between the ing for research and development infrastruc- innovative partners’. ture (Massey et al., 1992; Power et al., 2010: In parallel, there has been growing 131–147; Shearmur and Doloreux, 2000). emphasis on the attractiveness of places. Such science-led approaches to innova- Attractiveness can refer to the qualities of tion are geographically oriented only so far the urban environment, but also to the abil- as they anchor research activity within an ity of cities to offer inclusive and vibrant urban or regional locale and act as hubs sup- social economies (Scott, 2001), or consump- porting meso-level economic activity and the tion and lifestyle opportunities. In a compet- local clustering of firms (Debresson, 1989). itive global urban environment, where Agglomeration economies supported by innovative resources are unevenly distribu- inter-firm relationships and beneficial spill- ted, the local assets and advantages of places over effects (Delgado et al., 2014) have become strategies for capturing or retaining 708 Urban Studies 56(4) scarce talent pools (Darchen and Tremblay, identities that help define development path- 2010; Florida, 2014; Grant, 2014), entrepre- ways. Anttiroiko, likewise cautions that neurial risk takers (Caragliu et al., 2016), ‘attraction-oriented’ approaches carry risks, and economic investment (Anttiroiko, for instance in reinforcing economic inequi- 2015). ties within cities, and by lifting ‘development Some caution should be taken in reading processes away from grassroots level reali- developments in the scholarship of innova- ties, which may cause problems in the long tion geographies as readily applicable toolk- run by bringing destructive elements to local its for building successful innovation policies economy, creating exclusive enclaves to a and places. Such geographies can be unhelp- city, and relying on risky large-scale invest- ful when applied in ways which transcend ments’ (2015: 247). specific times and places. There is a great There is a potential contradiction in geo- deal of innovation planning underway which graphic approaches to innovation which, on demands the adaptation of cities, in the way the one hand, articulate the value of attend- they are governed, designed and developed, ing to local and regional innovation econo- to abstract innovation and development mies, while at the same time conceiving the goals (Peck, 2005). Such reflexive blind spots city as an ‘abstract space’ of economic action potentially create tensions between the rep- (Lefebvre, 1991). By imposing a conceptual resentation of cities as places which cultivate grid across complex social, culture and phys- prosperity, and the representations of cities ical geographies, spaces are made falsely uniformly shaped by a narrow politics of smooth and interchangeable. While the rec- innovation and development. Spatial repre- ognition of uneven development and global sentations which link cities with innovation, competition has led cities to distinguish economic and cultural indicators of success, themselves as unique sites of innovation, or imbue cities with marketing values power- overly prescriptive accounts of innovation fully delimit ways of thinking about urban have resulted in an overwhelming sameness prosperity and urban life (Smart and Tana- in expert advice, regardless of place (Grif- sescu, 2015). There is a danger, in other fiths, 1998). words, of replacing narrow economic dis- Local reflexivity is essential to ensuring courses with narrow geographic ones. innovation geographies are understood in Network approaches, for instance, can terms of place and community (also Cleave lend themselves to flat geographies where et al., 2016; Van Assche et al., 2016). As the complexity of network interactions is authors such as Anttiroiko (2015) and reduced to descriptive delineations of actors Eshuis and Edwards (2013) demonstrate, and traced relations (Addie et al., 2015). successful development strategies are rooted Quality of life is readily reduced to abstract in a firm understanding of local potentials, notions of attractiveness, and place market- address local development needs and urban ing can take on paramount importance, inequalities, and take strategic direction from rather than thinking about the actual quali- the values and desires of local communities. ties of place. In this regards Eshuis and As McCann (2002) argues, ‘place’ is a geogra- Edwards (2013) make an important distinc- phical representation, inscribed with values tion between place-marketing and place- and meanings, and the ‘innovative city’ is at branding. Whereas place-marketing imposes the heart of a spatial politics about the future definitions of place upon communities, of the city. He states: ‘It is precisely at this place-branding enables citizens and stake- nexus of meaning-making and place-making holders to work with cities to develop that cultural politics and the politics of local Jones et al. 709 economic development meet’ (McCann, 2002: reciprocal values in partnering and colla- 389). boration activities (Fitzgerald et al., 2012). ‘Innovation’ should not be taken for Within this approach participants were granted as it is applied to the shaping of recognised as bringing complementary urban centres and the pathways cities take to knowledges to the research process. This achieve prosperity. Within our case study of includes formal forms of expertise and nanotechnology development in Edmonton, professional knowledge, but value is also we explore innovation across geographic found in a wider array of experiential scales. In doing so, we build on the themes knowledges. of connectivity, the social production of qua- Held over two days in March 2013, the litatively unique spaces, and quality of life. Citizens’ Summit brought together 35 indi- Furthermore, we read our data as an oppor- viduals to discuss the future of nanotechnol- tunity to embrace place-based approaches, ogy in Edmonton. We connected the ‘usual and to reflexively connect innovation with suspects’ accounted for within innovation identity, culture and the future visioning of discourse (e.g. scientists, business leaders Edmonton. and entrepreneurs) with other key stake- holders and community leaders. Additional citizen experts included architects, urban Public research methodology planners, community leaders and representa- In exploring Edmonton as an innovative tives of key social service and volunteer place, we conducted a participatory research agencies. project comprised of a series of citizen Our methodology similarly placed an engagements and collaborative research emphasis on active co-learning and processes opportunities. The reflections and analytical of collective exploration. For instance, parti- interpretations presented in this paper are cipants helped delineate research questions centred on: (1) a Citizens’ Summit on Nano- and priorities, problem framings and the technology and the City engaging cross- articulation of research outcomes and con- sectoral leaders within the community, and clusions. Such processes were incorporated (2) a series of Futurescape City Tours in the citizens’ summit through a series of exploring nanotechnology and urban devel- guided deliberations, plenary discussions opment pathways within Edmonton. In each and education sessions. These discussions case we worked with local communities and were focused around six central topics deter- created forums for imagining a wider range mined in advance by drawing on a series of of accountable socio-technical futures than preliminary focus groups, and then amended are available within current policy and in consultation with participants: practice. Following, what have been variously (1) Nanotechnology and the creation of an referred to as participatory action research ‘experimental city’ of new materials. (PAR), community-based participatory (2) Capturing the benefits of innovation locally. research, engaged scholarship or situated (3) Place-making and identity: what makes research, our motivation was to create research Edmonton an innovative city? modalities which reconfigure the relationships (4) Making space for new technologies and between experts and research participants. new business sectors. Growing out of reflexive critiques of realism (5) Diversifying the regional economy. we sought to resituate research participants as (6) Scaling-up enterprise: from start-up to co-constructors of knowledge and to respect local economic anchors. 710 Urban Studies 56(4) Summit discussions were likewise used to Finding an analytical voice in bringing inform the direction of the Futurescape City together the varied contributions of partici- Tours, with summit participants also joining pants was a necessarily interpretive process. tour groups to facilitate discussion and In the discussion of our case study we have learning amongst a wider public. selected participant conversations and state- Closely aligned to the aims of this paper, ments drawn from the Citizens Summit, as we sought to ground research activities well as photographs and captions from the within the exploration of place. Partnering FCTs as a means of narrating our case with colleagues at Arizona State University study.4 On the one hand, we provide thick (Davies et al., 2013; Selin et al., 2017), and in descriptions of the research data in ways a comparative relation with five American that communicate the views and experiences cities, we hosted three Futurescape City of participants. On the other hand, we seek Tours (FCTs)2 in November 2013. Adopting to make sense of these conversations along urban touring as a ‘mobile method’ (Buscher the lines of interpretive discourse analysis et al., 2011), the FCTs created space to (Alvesson and Karreman, 2000). In this reflect on the lived experiences and percep- sense, our analysis balances providing con- tions of the urban environment. Rendell textualised articulations of themes within the describes the benefit of the method: ‘[p]ublic urban innovation literature (such as related concerns and private fantasies, past events to collaboration, quality of life and urban and future imaginings, are brought into the aesthetics) with a conscious aim to follow here and now, into a relationship that is both departures of creative dialogue (Genat, sequential and simultaneous. Walking is a 2009: 111–112). way of at once discovering and transforming the city’ (cited in Wunderlich, 2008: 153). In Engaging innovation and urban this sense, our approach offered participants the resources to collectively learn, explore futures in Edmonton and delineate futures in line with their own We turn now to explore three articulations shared needs and desires (Appadurai, 2006). of the innovative city that emerged from our FCT participants (N = 35)3 were collaborative research activities. The first afforded the opportunity to intimately focuses on attempts to diversify Edmonton’s engage and document Edmonton as an inno- economy through innovation and reflects vative city. During the tours, we asked that familiar themes about the value of integra- participants photograph urban forms and tion and networking. The second addresses technologies, classifying them as represent- innovation in terms of the quality of place ing either past, present or future visions of and ideal-typical arguments about creative the city. In addition, participants were chal- cities. Finally, our analysis explores ‘place’ lenged to write interpretive captions to eluci- further through discussion of place identi- date their ideas. These photographs and ties, spatialisations and potential futures, or captions created the basis for a series of what we refer to as the ‘virtues of a place’. deliberative sessions where participants shared their experiences and discussed inno- vation and nanotechnology in Edmonton. A Innovation networks final exercise used photographs to collec- Collectively, there was already a shared sense tively construct a montage of images repre- across our research participants that innova- senting nanotechnology as it relates to the tion was an aim worth pursuing. Much of past, present and future of Edmonton. the appeal of both the Citizens’ Summit and Jones et al. 711 the FCTs were that they afforded opportuni- P1: A lot of times. we don’t sit down and ties to learn about nanotechnologies, and have this epiphany and all of a sudden we’ve their relation to the future of Edmonton. In developed a car. P2: And, it may sound counterintuitive that if particular, the technologies were explored as you want to diversify then you want to serve possible sources of diversification in a pro- oil and gas. vincial economy dominated by hydrocarbon P1: Certainly, if you can do it for an oil and resources since the 1950s. Overcoming cycles gas problem, you can take that solution and of boom and bust, concern over the long- perhaps use it at another vehicle or another term competitiveness of the Athabasca Oil industry. Sands economy, and the ability to transition towards more sustainable economic activities Participants were as likely to perceive Alber- were commonly referenced challenges. There ta’s oil and gas industry as a barrier to diver- was a sense of urgency in much of the con- sification. For instance, the gravitational pull versation to build diversity out of the good of the oil and gas industry was seen to attract times, and recognition of the challenges of investment and talent away from nascent complacency, as communicated below by a alternatives. Continuing their conversation, science educator. A fall in the price of oil, the above participants pointed to the chal- and the resulting adjustment of the labour lenge of attracting and creating new talent market, since the Summit makes the follow- pools within the city. Talented people were ing participant’s comment prescient: identified as prerequisites for diversification of the economy, but attracting them was made What are the people here in Alberta going to difficult by a resource economy which pulled think when they start losing their jobs? They’ll talent away from other sectors and raised the complain to the government about doing cost of living for all. Diversifying the economy something different. Well, no. We put our- implied diversifying entrepreneurship. selves into this. The government didn’t do this. We were so short sighted, we weren’t thinking Facilitator: What do you think are the key out of the box. We’ve got to start looking at issues related to making space for new diversifying and not put everything we have in economies? one particular area. If we don’t, we’re just P2: People. going to be left in the dust. P1: Okay, to access people? P2: No, to diversify people. Edmonton is Yet, diversification and transformation of very strong at attracting a particular kind of the economy were recognised as being far people. We have to break away from being from straightforward processes and were only a resource-economy. characterised by significant uncertainties. P3: An entrepreneurial revolution. For instance, referring to the role of the oil and gas industry, Citizens’ Summit partici- Participants also spoke of challenges in capi- pants spoke both of the potential benefits of talising on entrepreneurial activity and coupling innovation strategies to traditional scaling-up businesses. Successes were noted strengths, as well as the challenges of break- in creating ‘fledgling companies’, but there ing away from strong path dependencies were concerns that few of these had grown related to these industries. Positively, the oil to a scale to achieve the diversification bene- industry was seen as a source of potential fits anticipated. Various factors were noted synergies and latent opportunities for diver- in these challenges, including the ability of sification as described in the following entrepreneurs to access markets and the abil- exchange between two local business leaders: ity to position companies within global 712 Urban Studies 56(4) supply-chains. Moreover, there were per- P2: You nailed it. because the thing is you ceived deficits in business acumen and the look at it as being mutually exclusive. Scien- desire to transition ‘lifestyle’ companies into tific conference. Business conference. What the heck? No. Put them together. anchor corporations. ‘Growing a company is friggin’ hard’, as one participant put it. A common theme accounting for per- Likewise, cultures of secrecy between indus- ceived fragilities within the Edmonton nano- tries, and between individual firms, created technology innovation system related to the obstacles to innovation and diversification. challenges of collaboration and gaps in sys- Here an exchange between a technology pro- tems of strategic support. Some of these bar- moter and a technology business owner riers were seen as deeply engrained with the prompts a reflexive consideration of the cultures and practices collectively comprising groups own complicity in failures in colla- local research and development contexts. A boration by poking fun at themselves: local context of intra-regional competition was seen as having a potential negative P1: We need a Made in Alberta [approach]. impact by supporting policies which sought We need to know that you guys are here. to attract and protect development within P2: Well, protectionism only goes so far, right? municipal boundaries. These were, ‘dis- P1: Well, yeah, but how many companies even incentives to collaboration’, as described in know what your company does and what the following discussion on supporting new makes it special? Right? And if they knew. economies in the region: P2: We like it that way. Secrets are good [everyone laughs]. P1: Regionalization, that’s the biggest disabler to growing our economy. We all work in these To address these barriers participants in the little silos from Leduc to Fort Saskatchewan Citizen Summit articulated the need to build to St. Albert. We need to start to work networks and facilitate communication. together. P2: But everyone’s as guilty as everybody else. ‘Brokers’ and strong ‘intermediaries’ were P1: We’re competing against each other and it identified as essential for transitioning serves no one. We are our own worst enemies towards collaboration. These actors could in terms of trying to build an economy outside push the envelope beyond what people nor- of oil and gas. mally would discuss. They could foster ‘unlikely partnerships’ and provide ‘back- Similarly, isolation between research exper- bone support’ to carry collective strategies tise, entrepreneurship and business develop- forward over and above individual interests. ment were attributed to the cultural barriers This leadership was interpreted as coming reinforced through niche conferences that pre- from government, from large industry part- vent meaningful partnerships. This concern ners and from the University. was described in an exchange between a scien- Citizen Summit conversations drew atten- tist and a local community leader: tion to, not only the make-up of networks and what leadership roles needed to be P1: You have conferences where business peo- played, but also to the importance of colla- ple meet. There are conferences where all boration as an overall ethos or spirit of the scientists meet. So you have two things, development. One participant captured this but there’s never a place where these two dif- idea well in declaring that what was needed ferent [groups of] people meet. was a type of ‘uber-collaboration’. The Jones et al. 713 language suggests an understanding of the P3: And so some of those conversations are complex and multi-faceted nature of colla- probably because. people are connecting boration, extending beyond any single when they wouldn’t otherwise normally. schism. As a second participant suggested, ‘there are a lot of different collaborations What emerges in this dialogue is not a that have to happen, and we as a community straightforward understanding of the impor- need to think about the opportunities to do tance of physical place, but an emphasis on so and the mechanisms’. The challenge of the qualities of encounters in place. As one collaboration was imagined more holistically group member interjected, ‘you could be hav- as the factors leading to vibrant interactions ing an hour-long conversation by a dumpster, between relevant stakeholders and local but that doesn’t mean it’s an innovative place’. actors towards common aims. Citizens’ Summit participants raised the question of whether an innovative city can be said to have a particular expression in Innovative places urban form. In an increasingly competitive Citizens’ Summit discussions opened the marketplace for attracting talent, partici- door to imagining innovation in ways that pants worried that Edmonton lacked a ‘wow highlighted Edmonton’s active social and factor’, or an ‘architectural identity’ that spatial context. Where traditionally local would enable it to compete globally. Partici- elites, within the determining framework of pants asked how Edmonton could create the hydrocarbon economy, have been able aesthetic and architectural places to support to engage each other easily, the recognition innovative cultures and activities: of Edmonton as a metropolitan hub con- necting a diverse range of experience and What can we do with Edmonton to give it this expertise has come more slowly. feel where people come and they go ‘wow.’ Reflecting this concern for the need to They’re just struck by the thought that has gone into the design of the city. How have they foment even greater collaboration, partici- integrated that? Architecturally are we moving pants identified the organisation of socially in a forward direction there? ‘vibrant’ space as a precondition for the orga- nisation of meaningful communication. Place In asking these questions, participants con- is described as constituent for sharing infor- trasted Edmonton with places seen to be mation through chance meetings. As one more aesthetically and culturally appealing. group of small business owners, planners and European centres such as Paris and Copen- architects describes, cities are places for ‘run- hagen featured in conversations, as did the ning into people’ and ‘spiraling’ innovation: research clusters in Boston and Silicon Val- ley. Contrasting life in Edmonton, the fol- P1: There is something. about bringing peo- lowing statement outlines what one nano- ple together in physical space. I think we’re scientist perceived as a richer life experience starting to see the failure of this remote work- in California: place, this idea that we can just all be at home on our iPads. [W]e’re social human beings. The Valley is The Valley – Silicon Valley. The We actually need to bump into each other. people, the community, and the people that P2: I know. any time that I’ve gone to one drive technology, they are more demanding in of those ‘innovative cities’. it’s about conver- terms of quality of life. They just don’t want sations that I hear when I’m walking down the to have a job that allows them to have a big street. 714 Urban Studies 56(4) house [as here in Edmonton]. Their life is 77). A photograph taken of a gravel parking richer than just that. lot and advertisement captures this mood well (Figure 1). It suggests the persistence of Comparisons were also made with Canadian and prevalence of an urban form which both cities, contrasting quality of life opportuni- potentially offers ‘a great deal’, but does so ties and attractiveness. Edmonton, it was in a way which is costing the city future voiced, is not competitive with Canada’s innovation opportunities. other urban centres in its cultural offerings and lifestyle opportunities. As suggested in an extract of a conversation on whether Rediscovering urban virtues Edmonton could really be called an innova- A persistent theme in the conversations we tive city, there was the feeling that the city is had with participants in both the Citizens’ the kind of place where you might work, but Summit and the FCTs relates to attempts to might not commit to: revive the virtues of the city. In the conver- sations above, there was a widespread con- P1 (Municipal Policy Maker): An innovative cern about the type of city Edmonton was city has a high quality of life because people not, and what this implied for its ambitions.. want to be there. This ‘place’ becomes a Edmonton was variably characterised as place of choice now. ugly, cheap, homogeneous, blue-collar, P2 (Science Educator): Right now if somebody was to ask: where would you like to live in industrial, cold, non-collaborative, isolated Canada? The attractor places are still Mon- and shortsighted. Yet, these negatives were treal, because of the culture, and maybe Van- sometimes balanced by description of the couver. There is a pretty high-end lifestyle in a city as ‘this amazing, amazing place’ – for lot of Vancouver. But what would make instance relating to its many festivals, its Edmonton? You know, right now I don’t industrial successes, its youthfulness and its think Edmonton’s really on the map in that frontier and entrepreneurial spirit. We intro- domain at all. You come here to work, right? duce the concept of urban virtues to capture these intangible qualities (Shields, 2003: 2–4). During the FCTs a recurring theme in parti- Participants often contradicted negative cipant photographs and accompanying cap- perceptions and enjoyed providing counter tions focused on places that were seen as narratives to describe Edmonton. For conspicuously out of synch with dominant instance, an architect describing what notions of an innovative city. Indeed, the Edmonton was not in terms of his previous vast majority of photos depicted everyday experience of living in Vancouver shifts the urban forms in the city, including dusty conversation to explain why she left: ‘But, I parking lots, empty commercial zones, gap- chose not to stay for a variety of reasons, ing potholes, unloved infrastructure, and the even though it was clear to me from the nar- extension of suburban form inward into rative that I was supposed to stay there’. downtown development. The ambition of Similarly, a second participant, a nano- being an innovative and entrepreneurial city scientist, citing the rich life opportunities in was not being captured in participants’ Silicon Valley, shifts from talking about representations. This reflects the findings of finding what they thought they were missing an earlier incarnation of the FCT in Phoenix in Edmonton during a second stay in the Arizona where researchers found that the city: ‘Now that I’m kind of living my second images taken by participants were ‘strikingly life here in Edmonton, I find that they do mundane, even ugly’ (Davies et al., 2013: exist here’. Jones et al. 715 Figure 1. ‘What a great deal! But, what’s the catch?’ To be from a peripheral city such as non-innovative place? More specifically, why Edmonton with its long winters and should the realities on which these stereotypes working-class culture has a certain kind of are based be held as incontrovertibly non- currency and status. Drawing on the nega- innovative? This was a key point made by sev- tive aspects of place is a process of differen- eral Summit and FCT participants. Negative tiation – Edmonton is defined as not narratives were seen as based on geographical, Calgary, Vancouver or San Francisco. That cultural and economic realities that were it may be more difficult to live in a winter, reframed by participants as key to finding the working class city imparts its own kind of innovative city within Edmonton. In the fol- status to those who thrive here and gener- lowing two quotations accepting and re- ates solidarity among citizens. In other framing the various realities that help form words, as is suggested below, we might show part of Edmonton’s negative place-image was caution in assuming that negative narratives considered by participants to be a virtue in are always inimical to innovation, assuming that it saw aspects of local culture and place we are willing to expand the idea of innova- as shaping innovation trajectories: tion. Indeed, conversations around place identity and innovation in Edmonton sug- [T]o be innovative you need to recognise reality gest that innovation might be found where around you, and your narrative [and identity] we least suspect it. should line up with that. And your physical Why should such ostensibly negative nar- manifestation should be consistent. Don’t try to import architecture or roads, or whatever, ratives be considered to indicate a significantly that just doesn’t work. (Policy Official) 716 Urban Studies 56(4) We always try to look at things that we’re not of the ‘innovative city’. In other words, they instead of things that we are. We’re not Cal- underscore the need to recognise and build gary. We’re not Toronto. We’re not Vancou- upon urban virtues in places which may not ver. We’re Edmonton – flat, prairie, a river. conform to accepted urban ideals. This non- This is who we are. (Business leader) conforming condition could be one basis for innovation. On several occasions participants empha- sised the need to embrace rather than resist the realities of Edmonton as a northerly Discussion ‘winter city’ through the development of technologies specifically suited to the needs Through the above presentation of our of the city (Garvin et al., 2012). ‘To be truly research, participants detail multiple path- innovative we should start with the reality of ways for imagining the innovative city and our condition, and work from that’, said the future prosperity of Edmonton. They one FCT participant. A Summit participant offer a rooted account of innovation and similarly suggested the possibility of incor- identify a number of potential paths towards porating new adaptive winter transportation supporting the City’s future resiliency. Clustering and effective network-building technologies in Edmonton by citing an were common themes, as they also are in the example from Finland: ‘A coworker of mine academic literature on urban and regional spent some time in Finland and she was sur- innovation systems. Overlying many of the prised to find that no one shoveled their conversations our participants had as part of walk. Instead everyone strapped on snow- our Citizens’ Summit was a sense that despite shoes and cross-country skis and went about Edmonton’s structural research and economic the city because they were like, ‘‘you know resources, capitalising on these attributes could what? It snows here!’’’ This quotation is one be difficult or elusive. In doing so, participants of many that called for a re-framing of articulated a need to strengthen the interac- Edmonton’s long winters as a potentially tional aspects of the city-region, and to pay positive aspect of the city. Such sentiments attention to social and cultural dynamics of are not themselves new. Since the winter cit- these relationships. Trust, the ability to define ies movement of the 1980s, architects, econ- commonality of purpose, and a shared identity omists and planners have recognised the were each perceived as required assets for a unique challenges faced by northerly urban successful regional innovation system. Simi- locales. Indeed, along with northern cities larly, participants identified potential benefits such as Copenhagen and Oslo, Edmonton in building flexible networks which were open has adopted its own winter city strategy with to diverse members, nurtured creative partner- the stated aim of celebrating winter through ships, and enabled new narratives about inno- a combination of initiatives. Of particular vation to emerge. interest to our paper is the way in which Here, a useful comparison can be drawn summit participants connected the desire to with research on the Lahti Urban Region in embrace local realities to the concept of Finland (Aula and Harmaakorpi, 2008). innovation. Accepting the realities of local This research draws conclusions suggesting context was not merely presented as laying that attempts to reorient economic develop- the groundwork for the emergence of inno- ment towards the knowledge sector are reli- vative networks to occur; rather, partici- ant, not only on the structural elements of pants saw the embracing of local place- these networks, but also on the social and realities as a key component of the very idea relational capacity they embody (also Amin Jones et al. 717 and Thrift, 1995; Beer and Lester, 2015). Put- being masked or fatalistically held up as bar- ting forward the concept of the innovative riers to transformation. Difficult conversa- milieu, they argue that the quality of network tions about the challenges of sustainability interactions is essential to both the innova- within a petro-economy were accompanied tive process, as well as to the reputation of by a willingness to embrace sustainability the innovation region. Edmonton, to be an challenges through innovations in green innovative city, was seen to require a transi- planning, sustainable energy and green infra- tion which could knit elements together in structure development. An urban ambiva- ways which created interactional networks lence in the City, discernable in the lack of a which were more than the sum of its parts. vibrant downtown and the proliferation of Additionally, participants identified lin- empty urban spaces, created a space to talk kages between the robustness of Edmonton’s about what types of future development emerging innovation sector and urban could support innovative interactions. In design. For instance, participants provided this way, conversations about Edmonton as nuanced accounts of the potential of place an innovative city shifted readily between to promote innovation through connectivity. discrete technologies, innovative geogra- They advocated that cluster planning be sup- phies, and wider conversations about the ported through the design of urban space in City’s complex and uncertain urban futures. ways which would support creative encoun- Academic research on urban transforma- ters and unique collaborations. Quality of tion often emphasises investments in urban life and the aesthetic experience of the City modernisation as prerequisites for transfor- came to the fore of these conversations. mative urban development (Ferbrache and Again echoing trends in the literature, these Knowles, 2017; Power et al., 2010). This qualities were seen as essential for attracting includes the types of top-down investments innovators and entrepreneurs to the City in a characteristic of the attempt to create a competitive urban context. Moreover, recent nanotechnology cluster in Edmonton. How- urban research on urban happiness notes ever, our research also suggests the value of that connectivity within cities promotes hol- more modest interventions. The conversa- istic benefits for citizens (Leyden et al., tions our participants led about the everyday 2011). Participant discussions can thus also life of the city signify complimentary paths, be read in reference to the value of thinking or make space for considering alternate about place and urban connectivity across routes, to the innovative city (see Chatterton, multiple aspects of urban life, as opposed to 2000). Framing the city through the possibi- a more narrow focus on economic relations. lities (whether real or imagined) afforded by Yet, discussion about innovation in nanotechnology provided participants with a Edmonton extended beyond discussions of way into shaping, as opposed to responding what the city was not, or abstracted notions to, the innovative city - to ‘look behind us to of desirability associated with other places. inform the future’, as one tour photo was Prompted by collaborative methodologies captioned. encouraging active exploration, participants Our experiment in engaging innovation linked Edmonton’s innovative future within across a variety of scales of urban geography more nuanced and grounded discussions of offers lessons for both researchers and policy the City. Participants challenged thinking makers. First, investments in the architec- about how negative place images can be ture of innovation systems alone are unlikely embraced in ways which support innovation to deliver desired outcomes in diversification and innovative place-making, as opposed to and entrepreneurship. It is equally as 718 Urban Studies 56(4) important to pay attention to the cultural thinking about innovation priorities and dynamics of those clusters. We should not what success might look like in a given place. expect innovation cultures to simply emerge Awareness of the contingency of urban within network spaces, but rather to recog- development and how differing approaches nise that these cultural elements require their to ‘appropriate growth’ support different own systems of support (Spigel, 2015). Sec- urban futures should be an essential element ond, our research underlines the benefit of of innovation policy (McCann, 2002). building network relations between innova- tion clusters and urban development com- munities. These relationships can support Conclusions creative thinking about the spatial function- ing of innovative urban geographies. For In this paper we have provided some insight participants, our engagements were a novel into the depth which communities can con- forum connecting parallel areas of strategy tribute to defining innovative geographies. and development. These often overlooked We articulate versions of the innovative city relationships between the innovation com- which are nuanced in their understanding of munity and city-builders represent a missed place, identity, and urban futures. In doing opportunity to share resources, expertise so, we raise questions about the degree to and visioning to co-construct nuanced and which innovation geographies can be repli- place-sensitive development. As Lester and cated and applied across space, from city to Piore (2004) argue, there is benefit in making city. There is a sense of something of a tauto- space for innovation, not in terms of a proj- logical argument pervading a great deal of ect or product, but as an indefinite process innovation planning at the municipal level in drawing together diverse communities, sup- Edmonton. This denotes innovation as both porting novel interactions, and which pro- a challenge – ‘how do we innovate to com- vide a forum for facilitating interactions pete?’ – and a solution ‘we must be more between technologies and social values. innovative’. Third, being attentive to ‘innovative places’, Our case study suggests that Edmonton, as socio-cultural constructs, creates opportu- and cities like Edmonton with development nities for widening the sources of inspiration ambitions shaped around innovation and for development, and connecting strategic economic transformation, might benefit policy to a wider array of community most, not from knowledge about innovation resources or needs. A chimera lurking in a in the abstract or in emulating the successes great deal of talk about the innovative city of other places, but through greater reflexive relates to a lack of integration of innovation understanding of its communities, its values strategy with a full exploration of place, and and its desires for the future. local desires for prosperity in the fullest sense We have sought to shift approaches from of the term. This includes a notable absence the strictly instrumental to deeper geogra- of public and community narratives of inno- phies which address the complex socio- vation within a literature which has favoured spatial dynamics of place (see Addie et al., discourses of entrepreneurship and where 2015). It is in a similar vein that Wolfe and publics might only be alluded to abstractly Bramwell (2008, citing Scott) suggest that as ‘talent’ or ‘risk takers’. Consciously build- successful approaches to innovative and ing engagements which expand social and creative cities requires a commitment to cultural space create opportunities for citi- opening-up the future to permit ‘different zenship, while also supporting strategic imaginaries’, and that doing so is further Jones et al. 719 essential to organising political action Notes oriented towards social change. The conse- 1. NRC. ‘Portfolio Evaluation of the NRC quence of such a narrow bounding of the Technology Cluster Initiatives’. Available at: dynamics of planning (and its performance http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/about/plan- as success or failure) is that alternates are ning_reporting/evaluation/2009_2010/techno- unacknowledged and thus unattended to logy_cluster_initiatives.html (accessed 1 April (Van Assche et al., 2012). 2017). Our participants did not chart a discrete 2. We hosted three tours on the following three themes: 1. Sustainability: Exploring the role way forward for the City of Edmonton. of nanotechnology in addressing urban sus- What they did do, however, was demonstrate tainability. 2. Innovative Spaces: What spaces a collective ability to identify pathways that foster creativity and innovation in the city? 3. traversed institutional and social spaces, Infrastructure: innovation, nanotechnology including techno-scientific development, new and sustainable infrastructure challenges. economies, urbanisation, and social as well Overview of each tour, including the sites vis- as environmental wellbeing. This flexibility ited, can be found at: https://www.ualber- and creativity, afforded through engagement, ta.ca/faculties-and-programs/centresinsti- offers much benefit in building successful tutes/city-region-studies-centre/community- innovative networks and alliances which root engagement/events/futurescape-city-tour (accessed 1 April 2017). success in the shared future opportunities of 3. Participants were recruited through social place. Concretely, this might simply involve media and community advertisements. Our directing research and development towards sample involved a diverse (age, gender, occu- innovations that meet the specific needs of a pation and professional background) sample community, for instance in developing sus- of individuals from across the city who shared tainable infrastructure in northern commu- an interest in learning about Edmonton and nities, or which address everyday experiences nanotechnology innovation. We had teachers, of place as constitutive of the innovative city. engineers, students, homemakers, administra- Less discretely, our experiments in placing tors, doctors, planners, retired individuals and government employees join us. 10% of the par- innovation suggest a value in bridging devel- ticipants were drawn from the Citizens’ Summit opment with wider conversations about vir- exercise, benefiting further relationship building tue and the future prosperity, sustainability, between experts (including from the nano- and livability of the city. sciences), community leaders and members of the public. Nineteen participants were women Declaration of conflicting interests and fifteen men. Participants were aged between 22 and 69 years old. The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of 4. 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